The Knights of Labor was find in philadelphia in 1869 to make everyone
equal such as women and African Americans. It
was noted as the first organization that advocated all workers in one
entity that disregarded skill, sex or nationality So
they will be able to work and get paid the same as the "White Man".
One of their aims was an eigth- hour day and a abolitio of
child and convict labor.The secret society was eliminated in 1881 and
adopted aggresive actions the members of this group met
in Reading in Pennsylvania.The eigth- hour working day was developed
on May 4, 1886. It was a big crowd of 1,500 people
figthing to work more hours to get paid more. Today people have to
a least work eigth hours a day and if they want can work
over time and get paid for it. The police came and attempted to diperse
them. 11 people were killed by a bomb that no one
knew where it came from. In 1883 when the Knights of Labor were lead
by Terence Powderly, the society slowly destroyed
itself. In 1894 a strike by workers against railroads of the
U.S. brought annihilation to The Knights of Labor. The Kinghts of
Labor sought a society that consisted of cooperative individuals such
as farmers, clerks, technicians and others combining their
efforts to become a whole. The secret society was eliminated in 1881
and adopted aggresive actions the members of this group met in Reading
in Pennsylvania.
Dawn Burnside
5/30/00
Dear United States Government:
My name is Michelle and my family and I live in the United States.
We are not from here we are from Africa, we came here
looking for a new life. We like it here but it doesn’t feel like home
to us. Here in the Unites States there are so many
opportunities for us than there is back at home. We have been here
for about 5 years and we have a business and we are doing things here that
we would never thought we could do back at home. Back home in Africa things
are not so good for our people who couldn’t come to the United States.
We don’t want to go back to that but now that you are telling us that we
have to go
back we don’t know what to do. We wouldn’t be better off back in our
homeland because there are not as many opportunities there for like there
are for here. I think we are better off right here in the United States
where we are doing just find.
Dawn Burnside
6/8/00
literature log for chapter 29
In Chapter 29 in The Jungle by Upton Sinclair he
discussed Jurgis. He was at a place where some one was seeking about
socialism. The orater was seeking and Jurgis wanted to know more about
it. Jurgis had a lot on his mind and he could think
very clearly but he knew that he wanted to know much more
about socialism. When the seeker was over Jurgis wanted to
talk to him so bad but him bodyguard didn't want any one to talk to
him he said can't you see the orater was worn out. But
Jurgis didn't care that he was worn out he just had to talk to him
some way. Jurgis was not going to gave up and he didn't he
did get to talk to the orater and the orater told him that he was much
to tried to help him but he would get someone else that
would do just as a good job as he could but he was little younger than
him. The orater sent for Comrade Ostrinski the other
person who could help Jurgis out. When Comrade Ostrinski came the started
to talk about socialism they walked out side and
the Comrade Ostrinski asked him where he lived so they can walk that
way but jurgis had to tell him that he had no home and
Comrade didnot know what to do about it and then he gave him his kichen
floor to sleep on so he won't be sleeping in the
hallways of the streets. When they got to Comrade house it was in the
ghetto babyies were crying in the hallways and all kinds
of things.
Dawn Burnside
5/23/00
Norma Rae Movie Review
In Norma Rae they
worked in factors for very little and long house and a lot of hard work.
The workers went through a lot because they didn't have any unions to back
them up. The work place was not always clean place to work or a easy job
to done. Norma Rea father died at his job because of the long hours and
hard work they had him doing. He felt that he was getting sick and he asked
could he take a break and the boss said in 15 min 5 min later he died.
There were no labor unions there to help them with those kind of problems
and they couldn't do any and if they did they would loss their jobs. A
lot of others things happen in that movie that wont happen in today's world
because of the labor unions. Than one day a man came to there town
from the labor union and he wanted to help the people out with there jobs.
No one wanted to gave him the time of day to hear him about their jobs.
Norma Rae the main person gave him some time to get to know about the unions
as time went on they got closer and they started to work together with
the unions and the worker to make them become a union. It was hard to get
the workers to become a labor union because they didn't want to loss their
jobs and their bosses made them feel like they went behind their back and
went with the union they would loss there jobs. As time went on things
on the job went bad and what Norma Rae was saying was making the
workers think and that what their bosses was doing was wrong. letting people
died or become very sick because of that job and the place where they work.
Dawn Burnside
5/08/00
In my 11th grade year I worked as a group leader
in a after school program with kids from the age group of 10-13 and a all
boys group. I loved my job it was so much fun It felt like I was
10 year old again I really enjoy working with kids they make you feel like
a kid. We played a lot of games and we also did homework and any other
help they needed in school. We became very good friends but it wasn't easy.
Being the leader of an all boys group and just about teens boys made my
job was really hard becaues I wasn't much older than them or bigger than
them and it took them and me a long time to get use to each other.
We have came a long way from the first day we meet. They wasn't new because
had been there from th age of 6 years old I was the new young worker.
On my first day they was crazy they wouldn't listern to me and all of them
wanted to know if I had a boyfriend and how old was I and where
did I go to school they were all in my business. That was a long day but
I wasn't by my self my boss was with me for a long time before he
let me be by my self. As the week went on it didn't get easyer. Then as
time pass I find my babyies my too favorties and all the rest of them were
not happy about that. They said how could you love them I told them that
I love them all but those too just got closer to me andI didn't tell them
that I love them more I guess they just knew. As weeks went on we all got
a little closer to each other. They wanted to be so grown but they all
was babyies and they all acted like babyies all of them wanted to be next
to me all the time and just be around me like I was there mother but there
I understood that they liked me like a girlfriend.
It was a great learning experience for me. I learned
how to deal with kids and their mother and fathers when something wanted
wrong or they were just bad. I learned a lot of responsibility from
that job also because I was dealing with kids and they needed a lot of
care I had to be the one who gave it to them becaues I was their leader.
It was a lot of fun and and a lot of learning. My boss was an older man
who knew the kids very well and they knew him also. He help me get thourgh
my new days with the kids. I got paid biweekly and for very little but
the money was not a big issue. The job was a great learning experience
for me with getting paid and working with the kids. That job was
a good learning experience for me but I don't that for a living it was
fun while I did it. I wish could always have a boss like the one I had
he was so understanding and caring and nice to me. We got a long very well
and that was great he let me do what I wanted with the kids I would make
the planing for the day or take them where I wanted to go to play or do
other things.
Kathy Parks
Ms. Wu
Tech Prep
May 8, 2000
One of my experiences at a food restaurant was one
of the worst experiences ever. My first fast food restaurant was working
at Burger King located at 86th and broadway. For one applying for the job
if you really need one is easy to do. The application is but so big when
applying a you need any experience at all whatsoever. At first I was so
excited to get the call back form the manager on a saturday telling me
that I got the job. My first day working there was that Monday. I would
say that my first day was the longest and hardest of all with all of the
work that had to be done in a certain amount of minutes. The saw that I
was a fast worker and moved no less than a week later as the team leader
of all workers.When I finally thought that working at Burger King and being
noticed by the head manager was the best I was delighted with joy and felt
so special with all of the congratulations from everyone. It was one the
worst experiences ever to me being that I was working minimum wage and
felt that I wasn't getting paid enough for the work that I was doing in
just one hour. In the time that I was working at Burger King all that I
could think about was an office job somewhere that wa air conditioned while
answering heavy telephones. That was one of the dream jobs for me or either
working at the Gap where I wouldn't have to deal with hungry customers
for burned hamburgers. I felt that it couldn't get any worse than it already
was by working at burger king in the heat and having to deal with a dressing
room where there were either rats or roaches crawling around in the facility.
Even working at burger felt like a good experience basically because I
was able to know what goes on behind the counter while people are dealing
with your food. My jobly duties was at first when I first started woking
there was many of various things before I was promoted to team leader and
my pay was raise a whole dollar. I would have to prepeare the food and
take orders form the people who worked in the front at the cash register
while announcing what people wanted in over the loud speaker. When I was
promoted I would then have to check peoples uniform and count the cash
registers at the end of the day to make sure that the change and money
amount was correct. The most that a register could be short of was, three
dollars and fifty cents. There were plenty of times that I had counted
up draws and found them to be short of money but that was normal to happen,
until I was apart of an investigation when more than twenty dollars was
missing and it started to accumulate over the past few weeks. That was
when I had to let the manager know who I had suspicions of who I thought
it was.
List anything you know about unions and how they changed the workplace.
What labor problems have been solved, what's left to do? You
should save this list for use in the post-reading assignments.
What I know about unions is that they are a small group the that is
formed to petition or boycott against a certain act tat happens at the
job that they work at. For and example, people form unions against employers
for low pay/wage. Small groups which are called unions form for better
benefits and better work environments. Some workers feel that they are
being cheated for what they are really working for and feel that if they
rally about it that their point will get across. Construction workers,
transit, hospitals, and entertainment centers are the main gorups that
are formed. One time the construction workers went on strike for whatever
reason for a very long time and got there points across by getting better
wages and benefits. For the most I know that women and men worked in factories
in the mid-60's. Jobs were not being justified enough for workers to handle
them in a manner that if they were to hurt themselves on the job, that
they would be insured or benefitted from the job of good care. I know that
for the most in the sixtiees the minimum that a woker would make was one
dollar and ten cents. It didn't matter how much work was handled on the
job and how initiated you were to the job you were it didn't matter you
didn't count.
"The Wages of the Backlash: The Toll on Working Women"
Dialogue
Characters: Pat Lorence, Manager
Introduction
Before you is a creative piece of my own form the reading of the article
"The wages of the backlash:
The toll on Working Women". The scenery of wheere the conversation
was taken place at was in the office of the factory that Pat Lorence worked
at. The main topic of the dialogue is to get Pat Lorence to sign a reprimand
that jeopordizes the job of her and many other workers if not signed by
each and every last one of them. Pat fights the struggle not to sign it
it because she find the contract like paper to be unjust and unfair. Her
manager shares his point of veiw by stating that if the whole point
of signing this reprimand is to minimize the bringing together of the unions.
As you read further into my creative piece you can find the topic to be
more interesting.
Manager:
Good evening Ms. Lorence how can I help you today on such a lovely
day that it is..
Pat:
Well for one I would like to discuss the behalf of me and all the other
workers that work work for your plant that we will rally in three to five
more weeks from today if we do not get the least of what we are asking
for from you guys. As hard working workers it seems that we as women of
the future are not getting as half as much of what the men whom work for
you and feel that we put in the most hours in one day of the week and are
not being acknowledged for it at all.
Manager:
Well I'm sorry you feel that way Pat, but we are on a tight budget
right now and we need you ladies at the most to bare with us for what we
are already paying you. We have also been sensing small groups called Unions
that are forming at other plants and I would like you and the rest of the
other ladies of the plant to sign the reprimands that I have written up
for you guys. I am depending on you the most Pat basically because you
are my best worker at the most and I know that if you be the first to sign
this contract then everyone else will sign also being that you are like
a leader of the pack. You are strong and most people look up to you as
if you a goddest sent from eden being that you a have a voice that is strong
and your words speak of someone who knows what you are talking about.
Pat:
Don't give me that "You are strong and most people look up to you"
crap. I am muchof a person like everyone else at this plant so I think
that you need not to flatter someone to sign your stupid reprimand.
Manager:
O.K. , O.K. , Pat lets not get bedside ourselves no one is trying to
influence you to do something that you don't want to do I am just trying
to let you know how important this is to you.
Pat:
Important to me, I think that the most important thing to me is the
Union if anything. The only person that this reprimand is important to
is you and only you. I find this conversation to be over as of now.
Manager:
If this conversation is over then so will job if you cannot sign this
reprimand. I cannot take the limited workers that I already have, but I
also cannot take the fight from my workers on something that I can no longer
control anymore.
Pat:
So what you are saying is that my job is being jeopordized all over
a reprimand that I find selfish, unjust, and unfair. So if that is the
case them so be it, before you fire me I QUIT!
Reasearch:
"The Knights of Labor"
In 1869 an organization formed called the Knights of Labor was formed
to disregard sex, skill, or
nationality of all workers. The idea of The Knights of Labor was for
workers to work equal and get paid
as much as a white person would get paid. The formation of The Kinights
of Labor organization was
equal enough for clerks, Technicians, construction workers, and so
on. The Knights of labor was equal
enough for all kinds of races.They never discriminated against any
other that wasn't in a criteria that they
was looking for. In 1869 The Knights of Labor was the best thing ever
that happened to workers that
was discriminated against.
Dawn Burnside
5/22/00
The Toll on Working Women
Dear Ms. Pat Lorance
My name is Dawn Burnside and I'm a women
a black women at that and it is hard for us to become equal to men or to
even white men for that matter. I think that you are great for what
you have done. I also think what you did for your self was
great. Jobs are always trying to get over on women they think that
they can do anything to women and get away with no on
won't say anything about it but, you were not like that. For a long
time companies have been doing what ever they want to
women and none say anything. Because the older women of the world didn't
think that they needed to be equal they thought
that men was the ruler of everything and all they had to do was be
by their side. Today in the year 2000 we have unions to help us out with
our jobs and the people we work with.
Women now we are some what equal to men. Even in the year 2000 we
are not very equal to men. Their is not a women president or there
is not a women running for president I guess we can't get
that much power or we will never be that equal to men.
The Jungle
by: Upton Sinclair
Chapter 28-31
(CHAPTER 28)
Jurgis Rudkus travels to America in hopes to find a better life and
opportunity. He is a strong
powerful young man when he first begins working in Packingtown. He
is a devoted husband to Ona
and a devoted father to Antanas. Unfortunately the miserable conditions
in Packingtown and the
merciless labor practices in the meat packing factories ruin his health
and turn him into a
bitter and very angry man.
Jurgis begins looking for a job, but at that point the depression has
ended, so more men are
forced to go out into the streets looking for jobs. Jurgis finally
gets a job and then is fired
because he is not strong enough to work. Finally he starts walking
down the street one day, and
he meets up with Marija, and she explains to him all that has happened,
since he left.
She does not make him feel guilty about it, she tells him that she
knows he did his best and
that whatever happened is not his responsibility. Jurgis can’t help
it, but feel guilty,
especially when he learns that his wife Ona, and his daughter Antanas
died. He starts to feel
very miserable.
(CHAPTER 29)
After the meeting is ended, Jurgis asks to please speak with the speaker
of the meeting. He is
then taken to meet Ostrinski, a socialist who speaks Lithuanian. Ostrinski
takes Jurgis to his
home, and they share past experiences, with each other. Ostrinski explains
that wage owners have
nothing but their labor to sell. None of them can obtain a price for
it hat is higher than what
the most desperate worker will take.
Ostrinski also explains that there are to types of economic classes,
that is the small
privileged capitalist class and the and the small, impoverished proletariat.
The capitalists are
small in number so they can work together, and work in their favor.
The proletariat is large and
ignorant. Jugis visits Teta Elzbieta and tells her about socialism,
she is very happy to hear
that he wishes to work and support the family. She even agrees to attend
socialist parties with
him from time to time. Jurgis finds a job as a porter in a Hotel room
that pays thirty dollars a
month, plus board. Ostrinski informs him that his new boos is actually
a state organizer for the
socialist party, and a well kniwn socialist speaker.
Tommy Hinds, who is Jurgis’s boss, is overjoyed to find out that Jurgis
is a comrade.
(CHAPTER 30)
The final chapters The Jungle are largely an explanation and an argument
for socialism. It is
also the story of Jurgis’s conversion. Ostrinski is basically a mouthpiece
for socialism.
Jurgis’s relationship with Tommy Hinds, shows how well and how easily
a friendship can be formed
between an employer and the wage laborer.
The basic philosophy of socialism is as follows. The wage laborer does
not receive the full
value of his labor. He receives only a portion of it, his “wage”; the
capitalist party receives
the other part as, “profit”. The capitalists own the means of production,
the factories. Wage
laborers have only their labors to sell. They compete with each other
for the jobs in factories.
The competition determines the going wage. The argument for socialism
is a viable solution to
the problem of wage slavery is also basic. Through socialism no laborer
will have to work more
than a couple of hours everyday. Socialism lowers the cost of production
by eliminating the
waste of corruption and graft.The Jungle
by: Upton Sinclair
Chapter 28-31
(CHAPTER 28)
Jurgis Rudkus travels to America in hopes to find a better life and
opportunity. He is a strong
powerful young man when he first begins working in Packingtown. He
is a devoted husband to Ona
and a devoted father to Antanas. Unfortunately the miserable conditions
in Packingtown and the
merciless labor practices in the meat packing factories ruin his health
and turn him into a
bitter and very angry man.
Jurgis begins looking for a job, but at that point the depression has
ended, so more men are
forced to go out into the streets looking for jobs. Jurgis finally
gets a job and then is fired
because he is not strong enough to work. Finally he starts walking
down the street one day, and
he meets up with Marija, and she explains to him all that has happened,
since he left.
She does not make him feel guilty about it, she tells him that she
knows he did his best and
that whatever happened is not his responsibility. Jurgis can’t help
it, but feel guilty,
especially when he learns that his wife Ona, and his daughter Antanas
died. He starts to feel
very miserable.
(CHAPTER 29)
After the meeting is ended, Jurgis asks to please speak with the speaker
of the meeting. He is
then taken to meet Ostrinski, a socialist who speaks Lithuanian. Ostrinski
takes Jurgis to his
home, and they share past experiences, with each other. Ostrinski explains
that wage owners have
nothing but their labor to sell. None of them can obtain a price for
it hat is higher than what
the most desperate worker will take.
Ostrinski also explains that there are to types of economic classes,
that is the small
privileged capitalist class and the and the small, impoverished proletariat.
The capitalists are
small in number so they can work together, and work in their favor.
The proletariat is large and
ignorant. Jugis visits Teta Elzbieta and tells her about socialism,
she is very happy to hear
that he wishes to work and support the family. She even agrees to attend
socialist parties with
him from time to time. Jurgis finds a job as a porter in a Hotel room
that pays thirty dollars a
month, plus board. Ostrinski informs him that his new boos is actually
a state organizer for the
socialist party, and a well kniwn socialist speaker.
Tommy Hinds, who is Jurgis’s boss, is overjoyed to find out that Jurgis
is a comrade.
(CHAPTER 30)
The final chapters The Jungle are largely an explanation and an argument
for socialism. It is
also the story of Jurgis’s conversion. Ostrinski is basically a mouthpiece
for socialism.
Jurgis’s relationship with Tommy Hinds, shows how well and how easily
a friendship can be formed
between an employer and the wage laborer.
The basic philosophy of socialism is as follows. The wage laborer does
not receive the full
value of his labor. He receives only a portion of it, his “wage”; the
capitalist party receives
the other part as, “profit”. The capitalists own the means of production,
the factories. Wage
laborers have only their labors to sell. They compete with each other
for the jobs in factories.
The competition determines the going wage. The argument for socialism
is a viable solution to
the problem of wage slavery is also basic. Through socialism no laborer
will have to work more
than a couple of hours everyday. Socialism lowers the cost of production
by eliminating the
waste of corruption and graft.
The Triangle Fire
The worst factory fire in the history of New York City. It occurred
on 25 March 1911 in the Asch
building at the northwest corner of Washington and Greene streets,
where the Triangle Shirtwaist
Company occupied the top three of ten floors; five hundred women were
employed there, mostly
Jewish immigrants between the ages of thirteen and twenty-three. To
keep the women at their
sewing machines the proprietors had locked the doors leading to the
exits. The fire began
shortly after 4:30 p.m. in the cutting room on the eighth floor, and
fed by thousands of pounds
of fabric it spread rapidly. Panicked workers rushed to the stairs,
the freight elevator, and
the fire escape. Most on the eighth and tenth floors escaped; dozens
on the ninth floor died,
unable to force open the locked door to the exit. The rear fire escape
collapsed, killing many
and eliminating an escape route for others still trapped. Some tried
to slide down elevator
cables but lost their grip; many more, their dresses on fire, jumped
to their death from open
windows. Pump Engine Company 20 and Ladder Company 20 arrived quickly
but were hindered by the
bodies of victims who had jumped. The ladders of the fire department
extended only to the sixth
floor, and life nets broke when workers jumped in groups of three and
four. Additional companies
were summoned by four more alarms transmitted in rapid succession.
A total of 146 women died in less than fifteen minutes, more than in
any other fire in the city
except for that aboard the General Slocum in 1904. Although there was
widespread revulsion and
rage over the working conditions that had contributed to the fire,
many defended the right of
shop owners to resist government safety regulation, and some in government
insisted that they
were at any rate powerless to impose it. The owners of the company
were charged with
manslaughter and later acquitted but in 1914 were ordered by a judge
to pay damages of $75 each
to the families of twenty-three victims who had sued. The Factory Investigating
Commission of
1911 gathered testimony, and later that year the city established the
Bureau of Fire
Investigation under the direction of Robert F. Wagner (i), which gave
the fire department
additional powers to improve factory safety. The event crystallized
support for efforts to
organize workers in the garment district and in particular for the
International Ladies' Garment
Workers' Union. It remains one of the most vivid symbols for the American
labor movement of the
need for government to ensure a safe workplace.
